Chapter X. - THE LOVERS.

The day of grace was at an end. The four weeks which the king had granted to his sister, in order that she might take counsel with herself, were passed, and the heart of the princess was unmoved-- only her face was changed. Amelia hid her pallor with rouge, and the convulsive trembling of her lips with forced smiles; but it was evident that her cheeks became daily more hollow, and her eyes more inflamed. Even the king remarked this, and sent his physician to examine her eyes. The princess received this messenger of the king with a bitter, icy smile.

„The king is very good; but I am not ill--I do not suffer.“

„But, your royal highness, your eyes suffer. They are weak and inflamed: allow me to examine them.“

„Yes, as my brother has commanded it; but I warn you, you cannot heal them.“

Meckel, the physician, examined her eyes with the closest attention, then shook his head thoughtfully.

„Princess,“ said he at last, in low, respectful tones, „if you grant your eyes no rest; if, instead of sleeping quietly, you pass the night pacing your room; if you continue to exhaust your eyes by constant weeping, the most fatal consequences may result.“

„Do you mean I will become blind?“ said Amelia, quietly.

„I mean your eyes are suffering; that, however, is no acute disease; but your whole nervous system is in a dangerous condition, and all this must be rectified before your eyes can be healed.“

„Prescribe something, then, as his majesty has commanded it,“ said Amelia, coldly.

„I will give your royal highness a remedy; but it is of so strong and dangerous a nature, that it must be used only with the utmost caution. It is a liquid; it must be heated, and you must allow the steam to pass into your eyes. Your highness must be very, very careful. The substances in this mixture are so strong, so corrosive, that if you approach too near the steam, it will not only endanger your eyes, but your face and your voice. You must keep your mouth firmly closed, and your eyes at least ten inches above the vessel from which the steam is rising. Will your highness remember all this, and act as I have directed?“

„I will remember it,“ said Amelia, replying only to the first part of his question.

Meckel did not remark this. He wrote his prescription and withdrew, once more reminding Amelia of the caution necessary.

As has been said, this was the last day of grace. The princess seemed calm and resigned. Even to her confidential maid she uttered no complaints. The steaming mixture was prepared, and, while Amelia held herself some distance above it, as the physician had commanded, she said laughingly to Ernestine: „I must strive to make my eyes bright, that my brother may be pleased, or at least that he may not be excited against me.“

The prescription seemed to work wonders. The eyes of the princess were clear and bright, and upon her cheeks burned that dark, glowing carnation, which an energetic will and a strong and bold resolve sometimes call into life.

„Now, Ernestine, come! make me a careful and tasteful toilet. It seems to me that this is my wedding-day; that I am about to consecrate myself forever to a beloved friend.“

„Oh, princess, let it be thus!“ cried Fraulein von Haak. imploringly. „Constrain your noble heart to follow the wishes of the king, and wed the King of Denmark.“

Amelia looked at her, amazed and angry. „You know that Trenck has received my warning, and has replied to me. He will listen to no suggestions; under no pretext, will he be influenced to cross the borders of Prussia, not even if full pardon and royal grace are offered him. I need not, therefore, be anxious on his account.“

„That being the case, your royal highness should now think a little of your own happiness. You should seek to be reconciled to your fate--to yield to that which is unalterable. The king, the royal family, yes, the whole land will rejoice if this marriage with the King of Denmark takes place. Oh, princess, be wise! do willingly, peacefully, What you will otherwise be forced to do! Consent to be Queen of Denmark.“

„You have never loved, Ernestine, and you do not know that it is a crime to break a holy oath sworn unto God. But let us be silent. I know what is before me--I am prepared!“

With calm indifference, Amelia completed her toilet; then stepped to the large Psyche, which stood in her boudoir, and examined herself with a searching eye.

„I think there is nothing in my appearance to enrage the king. I have laid rouge heavily upon my cheeks, and, thanks to Meckel's prescription, my eyes are as brilliant as if they had shed no tears. If I meet my brother with this friendly, happy smile, he will not remark that my cheeks are sunken. He will be content with me, and perhaps listen to my prayers.“

Ernestine regarded her with a sad and troubled glance. „You look pale, princess, in spite of your rouge, and your laugh lacerates the heart. There is a tone, a ring in it, like a broken harp-string.“

„Still,“ said Amelia, „still, Ernestine! my hour has come! I go to the king. Look, the hand of the clock points to twelve, and I ask an audience of the king at this hour. Farewell, Ernestine! Ernestine, pray for me.“

She wrapped herself in her mantle, and stepped slowly and proudly through the corridors to the wing of the castle occupied by the king. Frederick received her in his library. He advanced to the door to meet her, and with a kindly smile extended both his hands.

„Welcome, Amelia, a thousand times welcome! Your coming proves to me that your heart has found the strength which I expected; that my sweet sister has recovered herself, her maidenly pride, fully.

„The proud daughter of the Hohenzollerns is here to say to the king- -'The King of Denmark demands my hand. I will bestow it upon him. My father's daughter dare not wed beneath her. She must look onward and upward. There is no myrtle-wreath for me, but a crown is glittering, and I accept it. God has made both heart and brain strong enough to bear its weight. I shall be no happy shepherdess, but I shall be a great and good queen; I will make others happy.'„

„You have come, Amelia, to say this to the king; but you have also come to say to your brother--'I am ready to fulfil your wishes. I know that no selfish views, no ambitious plans influence you. I know that you think only of my prosperity and my happiness; that you would save me from misfortune, humiliation, and shame; that you would guard me from the mistakes and weaknesses of my own heart, I accede to your wish, my brother--I will be queen of Denmark?' Now, Amelia,“ said Frederick, with an agitated voice, „have I not rightly divined? Have you not sought me for this purpose?“

„No, my brother, no, no!“ cried Amelia, with wild, gushing tears. „No; I have come to implore your pity, your mercy.“ Completely beside herself, mad with passion and pain, she fell upon her knees and raised her arms entreatingly to the king. „Mercy, my brother, mercy! Oh, spare my poor, martyred heart! Leave me at least the liberty to complain and to be wretched! Do not condemn me to marry Denmark!“

Frederick stepped backward, and his brow darkened; but he controlled his impatience, and drew near his sister with a kindly smile, and gently raising her from her knees, he led her to the divan.

„Come, Amelia, it does not become you to kneel to a man--to God only should a princess kneel. Let us be seated, and speak to each other as brother and sister should speak who love and wish to understand each other.“

„I am ready for all else, I will accommodate myself to all else-- only be merciful! Do not compel me to wed Denmark!“

„Ah, see, my sister, although you are struggling against me, how justly you comprehend your position!“ said the king, mildly. „You speak of wedding Denmark. Your exalted and great destiny sleeps in these words. A princess when she marries does not wed a man, but a whole people; she does not only make a man but a nation happy. There are the weeping, whose tears she will dry; the poor, whose hunger she will assuage; the unhappy, to whom she will bring consolation; the sick and dying, with whom she will pray. There is a whole people advancing to meet her with shouts of gladness, stretching out their hands, and asking for love. God has blessed the hearts of queens with the power to love their subjects, because they are women. Oh, my sister, this is a great, a noble destiny which Providence offers you--to be the beneficent, mediating, smiling angel, standing ever by the side of a king--a bond of love between a king and his subjects! Truly one might well offer up their poor, pitiful wishes, their own personal happiness, for such a noble destiny.“

„I have no more happiness to offer up,“ sighed Amelia. „I have no happiness; I do not ask so much. I plead for the poor right of living for my great sorrow--of being faithful to myself.“

„He only is faithful to himself who lives to discharge his duties,“ said the king. „He only is true to himself who governs himself, and if he cannot be happy, at least endeavors to make others so, and this vocation of making others happy is the noblest calling for a woman; by this shall she overcome her selfishness and find comfort, strength, and peace. And who, my sister, can say that he is happy? Our life consists in unfulfilled wishes, vain hopes destroyed, ideals, and lost illusions. Look at me, Amelia. Have I ever been happy? Do you believe that there is a day of my life I would live over? Have I not, from my earliest youth, been acquainted with grief, self-denial, and pain? Are not all the blossoms of my life broken? Am I not, have I not ever been, the slave of my rank?--a man, 'cabined, cribbed, confined,' though I appear to be a great king? Oh, I will not relate what I have suffered--how my heart has been lacerated and trampled upon! I will only say to you, that, notwithstanding this, I have never wished to be other than I am, that I have been always thankful for my fate; glad to be born to a throne, and not in a miserable hut. Believe me, Amelia, a sublime misfortune is better, more glorious, than a petty happiness. To have the brow wounded, because the crown presses too heavily upon the temples, is more desirable than to breathe out your sorrows in the midst of poverty and vulgarity, then sink into a dark and unknown grave. God, who has, perhaps, denied us the blessing of love, gives fame as a compensation. If we are not happy, we are powerful!“

„Ah, my brother, these are the views of a man and a king,“ said Amelia. „I am a poor, weak woman. For me there is no fame, no power!“

„Isabella of Spain and Elizabeth of England were also women, and their fame has extended through centuries.“

„They, however, were independent queens. I can be nothing more than the wife of a king. Oh, my brother, let me remain only the sister of a king! Let there be no change in my fate--let all remain as it is! This is my only hope--my only prayer! My heart is dead, and every wish is buried--let it suffice, my brother! Do not ask the impossible!“

The king sprang from his seat, and his eyes glowed with scorn. „It is, then, all in vain!“ said he, fiercely. „You will listen neither to reason nor entreaty!“

„Oh, sire, have mercy--I cannot wed the King of Denmark!“

„You cannot!“ cried the king: „what does that mean?“

„That means that I have sworn never to become the wife of another than of him whom I love; that means that I have sworn to die unmarried, unless I go to the altar with my beloved!“

„This wild, mad wish can never be fulfilled!“ said the king, threateningly. „You will marry--I, the king, command it!“

„Command me not, my brother!“ cried Amelia, proudly, „command me not! You stand now upon the extremest boundary of your power; it will be easy now to teach you that a king is powerless against a firm, bold will!“

„Ah! you threaten me!“

„No, I pray to you--I pray wildly to your hard heart for pity! I clasp your knees--I pray to you, as the wretched, the hopeless pray to God--have mercy upon my torment, pity my unspeakable anguish! I am a poor, weak woman--oh, have mercy! My heart bleeds from a thousand wounds--comfort, heal it! I am alone, and oh, how lonely!-- be with me, my brother, and protect and shield me! Oh, my brother! my brother! it is my life, my youth, my future which cries out to you! Mercy! grace! Drive me not to extremity! Be merciful, as God is merciful! Force me not into rebellion against God, against Nature, against myself! Make me not an unnatural daughter, an unthankful sister, a disobedient subject! My God! My God! Oh, let your heart be touched! I cannot wed the King of Denmark--say not that I shall!“

„And if I still say it? If, by the power of my authority, as your brother and your king, I command you to obey?“

„I may perhaps die, but your command will have no other result,“ said she, rising slowly, and meeting the enraged glance of the king with a proud and calm aspect. „You have not listened to my prayers; well, then, I pray no more. But I swear to you, and God in heaven hears my oath, I will never marry! Now, my king, try how far your power reaches; what you may do and dare; how far you may prevail with a woman who struggles against the tyranny of her destiny. You can lead an army into desperate battle; you can conquer provinces, and make thrones totter to their base, but you cannot force a woman to do what she is resolved against! You cannot break my will! I repeat my oath--I swear I will never marry!“

A cry of rage burst from the lips of the king; with a hasty movement he advanced and seized the arm of the princess; then, however, as if ashamed of his impetuosity, he released her and stepped backward.

„Madame,“ said he, „you will wed the King of Denmark. This is my unchangeable purpose, my inexorable command! The time of mourning for his dead wife is passed; and he has, through a special ambassador, renewed his suit for your hand. I will receive the ambassador to-morrow morning in solemn audience. I will say to him that I am ready to bestow the hand of my sister upon the King of Denmark. To-morrow you will be the bride and in four weeks you will be the wife of the King of Denmark!“

„And if I repeat to you, that I will never be his wife?“

„Madame, when the king commands, no one in his realm dare say 'I will not!' Farewell--to-morrow morning, then!“ He bowed, left the room, and closed the door behind him.

Amelia sighed heavily, then slowly and quietly, even as she had come, she walked through the corridors, and as she passed by her maids she greeted them with a soft smile. Ernestine wished to follow her to her boudoir, but she nodded to her to remain outside; she entered and closed the door. She was alone; a wild shriek burst from her lips; with a despairing movement she raised her arms to heaven, then sank powerless, motionless to the floor.

How long she lay there; what martyrdom, what tortures her heart endured in those hours of solitude, who can know? It was twilight when Princess Amelia opened the door and bade her friend, Fraulein von Haak, enter.

„Oh, princess, dearly-beloved princess,“ she said, weeping bitterly, pressing Amelia's hand to her lips, „God be thanked that I see you again!“

„Poor child!“ said Amelia, gently, „poor child! You thought I would destroy myself! is it not so, Ernestine? No, no, I must live! A dark and sad foreboding tells me that a day will come when Trenck will need me; when my life, my strength, my assistance will be necessary to him. I will be strong! I will live, and await that day!“

With calm indifference she now began to speak of trifling things, and listened kindly to all Ernestine related. There was, however, a certain solemnity in her movements, in her smile, in every word she uttered; her eyes turned from time to time with an indescribable expression to heaven, and anxious, alarmed sighs fell trembling from her lips.

At last the long and dreary hours of the evening were over. It was night. Amelia could dismiss her maids and be once more alone. They brought the spirit-lamp, upon which stood the vessel containing the steaming mixture for her eyes; she directed them to place it near, and go quietly to sleep. She would undress herself and read a while before she went to bed. She embraced Fraulein von Haak, and charged her to sleep peacefully.

„You have promised,“ whispered Ernestine, lightly, „you will live!“

„I will live, for Trenck will one day need me. Goodnight!“

She kissed Ernestine upon the brow and smiled upon her till the door closed--then pressed the bolt forward hastily, and rushed forward to the large mirror, which reflected her image clearly and distinctly. With a curious expression she contemplated her still lovely, youthful, and charming image, and her lips lightly whispered, „Farewell, thou whom Trenck loved! Farewell, farewell!“ she greeted her image with a weary smile, then stepped firmly to the table, where the mixture hissed and bubbled, and the dangerous steam ascended.

The next morning loud shrieks and groans were heard in the bedroom of the princess. Amelia's maids had come to arrange her toilet, and found her stretched upon her couch, with disfigured face, with bloody eyes, which, swollen and rigid, appeared almost torn from their sockets! They ran for the physician, for the queen, for the king; all was confusion, excitement, anguish.

Ernestine knelt weeping by the bed of the princess, and implored her to say what frightful accident had so disfigured her. Princess Amelia was incapable of reply! Her lips were convulsively pressed together; she could only stammer out a few inarticulate sounds.

At last Heckel arrived, and when he saw the inflamed, swollen face, the eyeballs starting from their sockets, and then the vessel containing the powerful mixture upon the table, he was filled with horror.

„Ah, the unhappy!“ murmured he; „she did not regard my warning. She drew too near the noxious vapor, and it has entered not only her eyes but her windpipe; she will suffer much, and never be wholly restored!“

Amelia understood these words, which were addressed to Fraulein von Haak, and a horrible wild laugh burst from her bloody, skinless lips.

„Will she recover?“ asked Fraulein von Haak.

„She will recover, but her eyes will be always deformed and her voice is destroyed. I will hasten to the apothecary's and prepare soothing ointments.“

He withdrew, and now another door opened, and the king entered. With hasty steps, and greatly excited, he drew near the bed of the princess. As he looked upon her deformed countenance, her bleeding, rigid eyes, he uttered a cry of horror, and bowed down over his sister.

She gazed up at him steadily; tried to open her lips; tried to speak, but only a dull, hollow sound was heard. Now she slightly raised herself up with a powerful effort of strength, and moved her hand slowly over the white wall near her bed.

„She wishes to write,“ said the king; „perhaps she will tell the cause of her sufferings. Give her something quickly! there--a coal from the chimney!“

Fraulein von Haak brought the coal, and Amelia wrote, with trembling hand, in great, irregular letters, these words upon the wall:

„Now I will not wed the King of Denmark!--now I shall never marry!“ then fell back on her pillow with a hollow laugh, which deformed her swollen and convulsed features in a frightful manner.

The king sank on a chair near the bed, and, clasping his hands over his face, he abandoned himself to despair. He saw, he comprehended all! He knew that she had intentionally disfigured herself; that she had offered up her beauty to her love! For this reason she had so piteously pleaded with him!--for this reason had she clamored for pity!--pity for her youth, her future, her life's happiness! Love and faith she had offered up! Greater, braver than Juliet, she had not given herself up to death, but to deformity! She had destroyed her body, in order to treasure love and constancy in her heart for her beloved! All this the king knew, and a profound and boundless sorrow for this young woman, so strong in her love, came over him. He bowed his head and wept bitterly. [Footnote: La partie de l'histoire de la Princesse Amelie qui a ete la moins connue. et sur laquelle le public a flotte entre des opinions plus diverses et moins admissibles, c'est la cause de sea infirmites. Heureusement constituee sans etre grande, elle n'aurait pas du savoir a les craindre, meme dans un age tres-avance; et elle en a ete atteinte bien avant lage, qui pout les faire craindre. Encore, ne les a-t- elle pas eucs partiellement, elle en a ete spoutanement accablee. Il n'est pas douteux qu'elle ne les ait cherchees. J'en donnerai pour preuve un fait qui est certain. A une epoque ou elle avait les yeux inflammes en tenant ce liquide aux moins a sept ou huit pouces de distance; et lui recommenda bien de ne pas l'approeher davantage; et, cependant des qu'elle eut cette composition, elle s'empressa de s'en frotter les yeux, ce qui produisit un si funeste effet, qu'elle courut le plus grand danger de devenir aveugle; et que depuis elle a toujours do les yeux a moitic sortis de leurs orbites, et aussi hideux qu'ils avaient ete beaux jusque la. Frederic, a qui on n'osa pas dire combien la princesse avait de part a cette accident, n'a jamais eu depuis qu'une aversion tres-marquee et un vrai mepris pour M. Meckel, que la princesse fut obligee de quitter, et qui n'en etait pas moins un des meilleurs medecina de Berlin, et un des plus celebres anatomistes de l'Europe.

Une autre infirmite plus ctonnante, encore, o'est que cette princesse perdit presque totalementc la voix; aussi de sa fautc a ce qui l'on a pretendu il lui etait difficile de parlor, et tres- penible aux autres de l'entendre. Sa voix n'etait plus qu'un son vague, sourd et sepulcral, semblable a celui que forme une personne qui fait effort pour dire comme a voix basse qu'elle etrangle.

Je ne parlerai pas de sa tete chaneelante et se soutenant a peine de ses jambes, pour lesquelles son corps appauvri etait un poids si lourd de ses bras; et de ses mains plus d'a moitie paralyse; mais quels puissants motifs out pu amener cette belle et aimable princesse a se faire elle-meme un sort si triste? Quelle philosophie a pu lui donner assez de force pour le supporter, et ne pas s'en plaindre? quelle energie tous cea faits ne prouvent-ils pas?-- Thiebault, ii., 287-289.]